My apologies to anyone who saw a premature draft of today’s page while it was still under construction; I somehow hit the Post button instead of Save.
Blame a daylong rollercoaster dealing with the literal highs and lows of diabetes.
Photo by Emre Kuzu from Pexels.
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He gets it.
Writing for Forbes, an instructor at a Spanish university says it’s time to redesign our cities around people, not cars.
The message is clear: cars must go, they have made our cities unhealthy and expensive for everyone, and while bicycles and pedestrians are part of the solution, we need to redesign streets for pedestrians and for autonomous vehicles. This needs to be backed up by competitive public transport that is more intelligent and versatile, and powered by real-time data.
Shops on streets that are closed to private cars do not suffer, but quite the opposite. Living in a city without a car is perfectly possible: it is already significantly cheaper to rent a car as often as you need than to own one and have to face expenses such as insurance, parking or taxes. But all these solutions raise a fundamental question about changing our habits, about how we get to work, for example: working from home or flexible hours are increasingly established trends.
Someone should mention that part about business thriving on streets that are closed to cars to the business owners on Broadway, who could be looking at exactly that in the near future.
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Sad news from Santa Monica, where Metro Transportation Planner Daniel Chuong was killed when he was struck by a driver while training with his brother for the LA Marathon.
This is so incredibly sad. A 34 year old LA Metro Transportation Planner killed by a car while running in Santa Monica. We need safer streets. pic.twitter.com/CT9YpKoZp4
— Adrian L. Martinez (@LASmogGuy) February 16, 2020
It’s long past time to stop traffic violence in Southern California.
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Signs telling bicyclists to walk their bikes have popped up along the subway construction zones on Wilshire Blvd.
What the fuck is up with these bike dismount signs on Wilshire. This is the 2nd one I’ve seen. It makes no sense. @LADOTofficial @LACity @metrolosangeles @LADOTBikeProg pic.twitter.com/e76Yj2mTnS
— On Your Left (@OnYour_Left) February 17, 2020
However, the signs do not appear to be compliant with the California MUTCD manual — the state’s official traffic sign guide — and not legally enforceable.
Although I could be wrong on that.
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Apparently, the bike lanes on Jefferson have been closed for sewer pipe work for the next year.
And as usual, there doesn’t seem to be any accommodation for bike riders.
The city restriped the Jefferson bike lane out of existence and now you have to merge into speeding traffic. @LADOTlivable this is going to get someone killed. What were you thinking?? pic.twitter.com/BFWJre34SC
— Rabi Abonour (@rabonour) February 17, 2020
They need to squeeze down to two skinny lanes to make room to dig up the sewer, apparently.
— Mike Noodle (@MikeSpike3) February 18, 2020
It appears this closure is related to sewer work on Cochran (ht @theoldroad). However, the actual impact is much more severe than described. https://t.co/xaAdhuEKNc pic.twitter.com/9yK47h2mg1
— Rabi Abonour (@rabonour) February 18, 2020
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It looks like the Culver Blvd pathway is closed for construction work, as well. But at least this should reopen in a better version soon.
https://twitter.com/M_Sahli_Wells/status/1229797250076823552
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Talk about burying the lede.
A Stanton woman suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver while pulling a trailer on her bike.
However, the OC Register mentions that the driver fled the scene almost as an aside, before finally getting to a description of the suspect vehicle near the end of the story.
There’s also video from the scene showing the aftermath of the crash. But be warned, it’s tough to watch. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.
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Bike talks mountain bikes, including how to fly like Superman, how to dial in drops, how to ride a step down, how to ride rollers, how to ride turns and berms, and how to do a back flip.
And an English filmmaker looks at what happens when a mountain bike race shuts down and the trail is converted to a new singletrack course.
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Long Beach expats the Path Less Pedaled take a short ride on an LA gravel rollercoaster.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on. And on.
A London driver walked with a warning despite repeatedly brake checking a bike rider — in a bike lane, no less.
Sometimes, though, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Washington credit card thief was busted when he showed up at a hospital with a leg injury, after he was hit by a driver while attempting to make his getaway by bicycle.
A Florida driver asks if bicyclists are allowed to ride salmon in bike lanes, after she nearly hits a wrong way rider who yelled at her and smacked her hood.
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Local
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton says Magnolia Blvd, Broadway, and traffic signal pre-emption are three early tests for Mayor Garcetti’s Climate Directive.
Streets for All has echoed Bike the Vote LA in endorsing Loraine Lundquist in LA’s 12th Council District and Sarah Kate Levy in CD4.
The Bieb took his fat tire ebike out for a spin on the mean streets of Beverly Hills, after first shaving off that cheesy mustache.
Bike thieves made off with a pair of high-end road bikes with electronic shifting from an unlocked Pasadena garage. Let that be a lesson, kids — don’t leave your garage or your bikes unlocked any longer than necessary. Thanks to TJ Knight for the heads-up.
On the other hand, Santa Monica bike thefts have reached their lowest level in five years.
Long Beach police shot and killed an armed man who refused to cooperate after police ordered him to stop his bicycle, allegedly pointing his gun at them.
State
Santa Barbara will conduct a road diet on De la Vina Street, narrowing it to a single one-way traffic lane, along with a bike lane.
A Beaumont bike rider suffered serious injuries Monday morning when he or she was hit by a driver, who actually stuck around and waited for the police, for a change.
A Porterville man faces charges for literally running from police when they tried to pull his bicycle over while he was riding stoned, and illegally loading real bullets into a replica BB gun, which he wasn’t allowed to own as a convicted felon.
There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole a $4,000 ‘bent that an autistic Fresno man used as his only form of transportation.
National
The Week argues that the real promise of the electric vehicle revolution lies with ebikes, rather than electric cars.
Americans are addicted to their cars.
Clearly, you can do that on a bike, especially on one like this. Whatever you’re trying to do.
Rapper Jeezy is one of us, going for a Valentine’s Day bike ride with girlfriend Jeannie Mai on the back.
A Missoula, Montana man wants to thank the two women who came to his aid when he broke his leg riding in the snow. And get his bike back from the one who promised to hold it for him, but apparently gave him a fake address for where he could pick it up.
An Oklahoma couple is planning to set a new Guinness world record for the longest ebike ride, traveling 20,000 unsupported miles across 48 states. Get back to me when they actually do it. Because it’s easy to make plans, much harder to actually do it. As I’ve learned the hard way.
Columbia, Missouri is apparently following the Los Angeles model for Vision Zero, with traffic deaths and serious injuries on the increase four years after adopting the safety plan.
If you build it, they will come. Which apparently works just as well for an Illinois bake shop located across from a popular bike path as it does for anything else.
Seriously? A self-proclaimed bicycle rider blames bike lanes for all that traffic congestion in Pittsburgh, which apparently didn’t exist before they were painted. And compares bike lanes to dogs marking their territory.
A Massachusetts man now owns the same bike shop where he worked as a bike-obsessed teenager.
New York Streetsblog argues that a new survey shows America’s mayors know cars are killing people and ruining our cities, but don’t have the courage to do anything about it.
Closing a section of a busy New York street to cars in favor of a busway is literally saving lives.
Kindhearted cops in Richmond VA gave a new bike and helmet to a woman who was hit by a car while riding, after learning her bike was her only form of transportation.
Evidently, they take distracted driving seriously in Georgia, where a driver faces a vehicular homicide charge for killing a bike rider when he looked down at his coffee cup.
An Orlando, Florida writer confesses to blowing through stop signs while riding a bicycle on a trail dedicated to non-motorized transportation, where bike riders should get priority, but don’t. Each of the past two nights, I’ve watched drivers blow through the stop signs on my block without even slowing down. But let a bike rider do the same thing at 10 – 15 mph, instead of 30 or more, and people get apoplectic.
This is who we share the roads with. A Florida man confessed to intentionally running down a Vietnam veteran, who the killer described as “an old man with a cane,” just because he was curious about what it’s like to kill someone.
International
They get it, too. A writer for Rouleur says the one thing all bicyclist have in common, regardless of ability, is how vulnerable we are on the roads. And concludes that the culture, and the laws, have to change.
Mark your calendar for the World Naked Bike Ride in London this June. But pack some clothes anyway.
A London bike rider gets ordered off his bike while riding on a shared-use path after a cop ignores the signage and decides it’s for pedestrians only.
As Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo runs for re-election with a promise of bike lanes on every street, Parisians continue to ride their bikes, even after a disruptive transit strike has ended.
A Pakistani delivery driver working in Dubai faces six months in jail followed by a fast deportation for sexually harassing a customer by kissing her wrist and cheek when he tried to drop off the bicycle she ordered for her husband.
A South African ultra-endurance cyclist has made a remarkable comeback from a solo crash that nearly took his life, but couldn’t stop him.
A Kiwi town gets a new hot pink, car-shaped bike corral.
New Zealand bicyclists demand better infrastructure following a recent bicycling fatality, arguing that paint isn’t protection.
Yet another new study, this time from New Zealand, shows that biking to work can reduce your risk of dying and could extend your life.
A social media backlash erupted after a Formula 1 racing driver unveiled his relationship with an Aussie women’s cyclist, just three months after divorcing his ex-wife.
File this one under you’ve got to be kidding. Melbourne residents are calling for bikes to be banned from shared paths because riders are exceeding the ridiculously low 6.2 mph speed limit. I’m not sure my bike can even go that slow without falling over. Or maybe it can, and I can’t.
Apparently, running over an elderly Singapore bike rider felt just like driving over a plastic bottle to the truck driver who killed him.
Competitive Cycling
Dutch pro Tom Dumoulin’s return to racing following a knee injury last June is on hold due to parasites in his gut.
Adults over 50 are invited to compete in the Pasadena Senior Games, which includes cycling as well as a number of other sports. Although it’s not clear from the article whether you have to be a Pasadena resident.
Finally…
Pedaling a party bike through a winter bomb cyclone doesn’t look like much of a party. Who needs wheels to join a group ride when wings will do just fine.
And evidently, the San Francisco Chronicle has been reading my Twitter feed.
After walking a male dog for the past few months, I have just one bit of advice.
Never ride a scooter barefoot.
— BikinginLA (@bikinginla) February 15, 2020
